We continue our list of the Top 15 Softball Stories of 2021, which will run through December 31st when we’ll present our No. 1 story of the year.
Here are the previous stories (clink on link to read):
- #15… FAU’s Riley Ennis Feels Her Team’s Support After Hurricane Devastation
- #14… Four Football Helmets, One Anonymous Bidder, and a Difference Made for ULM Softball
- #13… High School & Club Coaching Great Mark Campbell Remembered in Collegiate Classic Bearing His Name
- #12… TV Ratings Continue to Climb – & Viewership Records Set – on Softball Telecasts
- #11… Former Softballer Rachel Balkovec Makes History in Professional Baseball
- #10… The Transfer Portal Winds On; Are College Superteams Now a Thing?
- #9… Mental & Emotional Health Pressures Lead to Anxiety, Depression & Even Suicides in Young Athletes
- #8… Carol Hutchins Retires as the NCAA All-Time Wins Leader
- #7… Rawlings Gold Gloves Expand to College Softball
- #6… The Top 15 Softball Stories of 2022: #6… Former Raider & Softball Ump Clarence Davis Dies (Or Does He? Yes… & No!)
- #5… The World Games Goes Down to the Wire & Is a Great Showcase for the Sport
- #4…Â
- #3… Oklahoma Dominates Their Way to the National Championship
Also, on New Year’s Day 2023, we’ll list all 15 of the top stories of the year as well as run 15 more that were considered.
We’ve surveyed the softball community and talked internally as well to come up with what were the most impactful and relevant stories of the year pertaining to the world of fastpitch softball.
Where applicable, we are providing the text to the original articles and/or references when the story first happened.
- Click Here to see the Top 15 Stories of 2021
- Click Here to see the Top 15 Stories of 2020
- Click Here to see the Top 15 Stories of 2019
- Click Here to see the Top 15 Stories of 2018
To provide comments, insights or thoughts, email:Â info@extrainningsoftball.com.
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Today’s Story of the Year: #2:
Conference Realignment Changes the Landscape of College Softball
Many of the moves were already decided, but the official conference change of nearly two-dozen teams this summer made quite a splash on the college softball scene.
Some of the game’s best mid-major conferences got considerably stronger thanks to the moves – look no further than the Sun Belt or the Missouri Valley, which both added three solid softball programs.
Perhaps the biggest realignment news of the year came in late June when UCLA – as well as non-softball-playing USC – announced a plan to leave the PAC-12 Conference and join the Big 10. That announcement sent shockwaves through all of college athletics. Two of the most recognizable brands in college sports and two stalwarts of the PAC-12 defecting to join a new league was a huge headline.
Realignment is often done based on football or basketball considerations, but college softball had some genuine effects of the year’s moves, both conducted and those planned for the future. Below is a reprint of a July 1st article discussing the college programs that changed conferences this offseason.
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What July 1st Means for College Softball Realignment
Originally published July 1, 2022, on Extra Inning Softball
While Thursday’s news of USC and UCLA’s future membership in the Big 10 dominated sports headlines, the arrival of July 1st on Friday signaled the official moves for a number of previously-known conference realignments.
A total of 22 college softball programs are joining new leagues on Friday, all as part of moves made by their entire athletic departments. Of that number, five are moving from Division 2 up to Division 1 membership.
In addition to the 22 softball-playing schools that are changing leagues, a handful of others that do no sponsor softball programs are also realigning on Friday; we haven’t included those non-softball schools in the statistics below.
Lindenwood, Queens, Southern Indiana, Stonehill, and Texas A&M-Commerce are the five programs moving up to the D1 level. As with previous moves across divisions, the schools will each have to undergo a reclassification period before being fully eligible for D1 postseason play.
The Colonial Athletic Association leads all conferences with a +3 net gain through Friday’s moves; the CAA lost James Madison as a member, but gains four new programs (Hampton, Monmouth, North Carolina A&T, Stony Brook).
Other leagues with positive net gains via the July 1st realignments include the ASun (+2 softball programs), the Missouri Valley (+2 net, gains three new teams), Sun Belt (+2 net, gains three new teams), WAC (+2), Southland (+1), and the A10 (+1).
A full list of softball programs realigning on July 1st, including each team’s new league, is below. Teams noted with an * are moving from Division 2 to D1.
- Austin Peay –> ASun
- Belmont –> Missouri Valley
- Bryant –> America East
- Hampton –> CAA
- Hartford –> Independent (eventually moving to D3)
- Illinois-Chicago –> Missouri Valley
- James Madison –> Sun Belt
- Lindenwood* –> Ohio Valley
- Loyola Chicago –>A10
- Marshall –> Sun Belt
- Monmouth –> CAA
- Mount St. Mary’s –> MAAC
- Murray State –> Missouri Valley
- North Carolina A&T –> CAA
- Queens* –> ASun
- Southern Indiana* –> Ohio Valley
- Southern Miss –> Sun Belt
- Southern Utah –> WAC
- Stonehill* –> Northeast
- Stony Brook –> CAA
- Texas A&M-Commerce* –> Southland
- UT Arlington –> WAC
